Cal Never Answered the Questions from Oregon Game, Got Dismantled

Last week after the humiliating loss to the Oregon Ducks, I wrote an article titled "Questions the Cal Bears Need to Address Before USC."

Here are the questions and the answers California fans got:

Is there going to be a quarterback controversy? At this point, there's definitely an even bigger calling by Cal fans to get rid of Kevin Riley from under center, but Tedford is a loyal soul, so don't expect any changes anytime soon.

When Nate Longshore was struggling with the cracked bone in his ankle Tedford never once thought of making the call to replace Longshore as starter. Now, the Bears are on the same boat with a struggling starter who is not injured, but not playing very confidently.

When will the Bears get a field goal kicker that can make a field goal under 45 yards? The Bears still struggle with the special teams in terms of having a consistent field goal kicker, but right now, that's far from the issue for the Bears. The question now is what happened to the offense and the offensive line?

Does Bob Gregory have a defense for when the Bears get put into a close game or are trailing? The Bears defense did everything in their power to keep USC down, causing an interception and making a few big plays on fourth down, but because there's no offense the Bears defense caved on a few plays in the first and second half.

Let's face it's hard for a defense to play a perfect game when they are on the field for the majority of it.

There are still problems with the Bears' defense, though. If there's a freshman quarterback, you have to make him feel uncomfortable. When the Bears did that good things happened like the mentioned interception and they nearly caused a fumble by Barkley, and one other time did the Bears get to Barkley with a sack.

When there are only three examples of a defense disrupting a quarterback I don't care who it is there going to have a good day and just shred the defense. A quarterback shouldn't have all day to throw and to make a decision.

That's the biggest difference between the Oregon defense and USC defense they got to Riley made him make quick decisions and never let him get comfortable.

What happened to the secondary? This question was basically just answered. No pass rush, no pressure on quarterback, and sloppy tackling are becoming huge concerns for the secondary.

The Bears primarily play a zone coverage so it's not man-man so when a quarterback has all day he can beat that zone by having the receiver, tight end, fullback, or running back get to an area of the zone that is soft allowing for big plays to happen.

When a team turns the ball over and the Bears are in scoring position why was't Jahvid Best used? Ok, this really wasn't much of a factor in the game because Best again was a non-factor. Direct snaps to Best are not going to be getting the answer to get Best involved in the offense when the Bears are playing tough defenses.

The Bears put on a great play that would have gotten them a touchdown, but Riley threw the ball so poorly that Shane Vereen couldn't even come down with the ball.

Vereen went out of the backfield acted like he was being substituted on the play, was left uncovered by the sideline, all Riley had to do was throw the ball to Vereen to the inside not over his head and Vereen would have been gone for a touchdown.

Instead it was an incomplete pass and the boo birds came out again!

What happened to the two headed backfield? I'm still having a hard time understanding how hard it is for Offensive Coordinator and head coach Jeff Tedford getting Vereen and Best involved early and often.

Last year, Vereen was the second leading receiver for the Bears and Best was up there too. Now they are hardly utilized in the passing game. There's only been a couple of times this year that the Bears have even utilized Vereen or Best as receivers.

When the Bears opened the game they used Vereen and it got them good yardage. Yet, the Bears never went back to that quick throw again. It could have been beneficial for the Bears especially when they needed just one yard for a first down instead of trying to run Best in which everyone in the stadium knew was going to get the ball.

I can't even remember when Best got the ball that wasn't a carry. He did have a ball thrown his way a couple of times neither of them very good or conducive to allowing Best get into the open field.

With those questions never being answered, the Bears found themselves in another blow out loss. Those questions still remain, and if the Bears can't figure them out during their bye week, it could be a long season for Bear fans.